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July 24, 2010

FLASHPOINT: Everyone wants everything now — and they want it easy

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Oh pitiful from gaseous skies, our neighborhoods have died.

For purplish-blackened oil spills, and chem-Trails in the sky.

America, America god shed his tears on thee.

Brother can’t get a job even if he’s not a slob.

Cause they make everything overseas.

What has happened to this country in the last 50 years? Remember when you could drive your car onto a street where traffic was zipping by and drivers actually slowed down and got into the other lane to allow you to merge? You gave them a little wave and a smile and they did the same. Now if you try to pry your car onto a busy street and cause someone to have to slow down or tap their brakes, the driver will honk his horn while flipping you off and yell expletives because you infringed upon his little world.

Remember when you had to work to gain someone’s respect and now respect is demanded?

My generation has miserably failed in teaching our children important lessons. After all we will be handing custody of our country over to them gradually as we die off. We have deprived them of knowing the value of saving for a later day. Today, everyone wants everything now and easy credit has been everywhere.

I am as much to blame as anyone else. My oldest son enrolled into college and immediately received an application for a charge card. Since he was an athlete, there was little time to work because he practiced all the time. I thought that I would have him get the card and I could let him pay his gas with it. I would pay it off each month and it would help him build his credit. When he graduated from college, his credit card limit went from $500 to over $20,000 because of his (MY) good payment history. Now he didn’t have a job but he had over $20,000 of credit. How did they expect him to pay for it without a job? Why was I that stupid in the first place? I never had a credit card until I was 28.

The average Joe today doesn’t want to know how much does it cost? … He wants to know what are my payments? As long as he thinks he can afford a payment, then instant gratification is attained. He is eliminated from the warm feeling of anticipation one gets from putting money in a cookie jar for months or years and dreaming about owning a new or used whatever. It was the anticipation of ownership that gave me more tingles than actual ownership. These kudos are not known today because anyone who breathes can get credit for anything even if they don’t have a way to pay for it.

Our biggest problem as a nation is that we do not save money anymore nor do we make anything anymore. When have we made a DVD player worth a darn, or a car that lasts until you pay it off? Those are all made overseas. Why do we not hold our elected officials accountable? We forget what they vote for and put the same names and personalities back into office. In fact we don’t even know what they actually voted for because it wasn’t announced on “American Idol” or on David Letterman.

Two years ago, I called, e-mailed and wrote a letter to both my state senators and congressman and told them that I did not want my tax dollars to go for the $800 billion bailout. They all voted for it and those that were running for office were re-elected. Now I get nice little e-mails from each telling me about all the wonderful things they are doing for us. Where did the money go? Bernanke won’t tell us or congress.

The billions turned to trillions and what have we got to show for it? Ten percent unemployment (over 20 percent according to shadowstats.com) and about $56 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities. Yes I said TRILLION! Unfunded liabilities include the Medicare payroll deductions that were supposed to be invested for us and paid back when we retire. Instead we have used it for $200 hammers and $200,000 parties for AIG insurance. This year our Medicare program went into the red which means for the first time ever, Medicare benefits paid out were more than Medicare premiums paid in. This means that our government must now tax us to pay the difference. This was not supposed to happen until 2017 but because of unemployment there is not enough being paid in.

Imagine that if the U.S. government would have paid off everyone’s mortgage instead of bailing out the banks. The banks would have received a tremendous boost in cash which would increase their reserves and allow them to loan out lots more money. All homeowners would have all their mortgages paid for and have more cash flow to buy or borrow more money to buy additional goods and services which would stimulate the whole economy. This would have benefited everyone. Instead it gave the big banks hoards of cash to buy smaller banks out for pennies on the dollar. Everyone is getting laid off and their homes are being repossessed for pennies on the dollar. This is the biggest transfer of wealth in our entire history.

So you say, “Just wait a minute, mister smarty pants, anyone can see what the problems are, give us a solution.” You know what? I don’t think there is one but I do have a few ideas that can’t hurt.

First, let us start rewarding those who save and penalizing those that borrow. Jacking up the interest rates will have a negative effect at first on the economy, but we are, after all, living in a bubble created by the “too low” interest rates. Our economy needs to adjust for that.

Two, we need to make sure that we have a trained work force. One way is to start teaching interpersonal skills in elementary school. Instead of teaching European history, teach them how to dress and apply for a job.

After they finish high school make every child go to the Peace Corps, or set up community organizations to rebuild our infrastructure. If a child is a problem child then send them to a boot camp. Every child serves and gives back to our community and while they are doing this, they will get a good feeling of helping others. We can use these organizations to teach our young how to interact in group dynamics, get along with authority, and learn useful skills. After serving for two years then our government will pay for two years of college or trade school. We show our young generation that by giving they will receive in kind. This will teach our young that there is no free lunch.

Three, by utilizing the community organizations mentioned above (much like the CCC camps during the first depression) we will rebuild our infrastructure including a rapid transportation system like the one in Japan. These quick and eco-friendly trains will make our travel easy and affordable. Every city should have a system like that instead of gas hogging busses.

Four, no politician should serve in an elected position for more than eight years total. Then they must go back to the private sector and work. There will be no lifetime politicians. There will be statesmen like our forefathers. This should eliminate some of our corruption. Five, all presidential primaries should occur in a three-week period. The US should be divided up into thirds and the eastern third will have a primary during the first week, the middle states the next week and the western states the final week. We do not live in the horse and buggy days so the primaries are stretched out way too long. Our media can reach everyone instantly so why drag it out? There should be a cap on the amount that can be spent as well as an amount that any family or company (including employees) can donate to a campaign fund.

Six, bring back tariffs so that our U.S. made products can compete with those made with Chinese 88 cent per hour labor. We should penalize US companies that have offices and manufacturing facilities in other countries to get around our laws and profit from it.

Seven, make marijuana legal and tax it. It is not as harmful as cigarettes and I have never known someone to smoke it and go home and beat up his wife. He might raid your refrigerator but he won’t get violent like he would with whiskey. Tax it and use your DEA to investigate crooked politicians. We have created a class of criminal that we never had 50 years ago. We are throwing marijuana users and dealers into prison with violent inmates and allowing them to be trained by them to be violent criminals.

Eight, if you are a U.S. company that uses phone rooms in other countries, you will pay a tariff. I am tired of calling a company and getting a hold of a guy named Bob that has a thick Asian accent. Make it difficult and expensive for U.S. companies to hire workers in other countries while taking advantage of our laws. I want the dollars that I spend to remain in the U.S.

Nine, stop buying products made outside the U.S. If Walmart doesn’t stock it, buy elsewhere. How can we be concerned about American jobs when we buy stuff from Indonesia?

Ten, no more free lunch, everyone should contribute. If you are in prison, you must work. If you are disabled, you must work, answer phones, get retrained but be productive. If you have no way to support yourself, you go to work at a community camp that we cited above. If you cannot get work and have children then there will be public housing that serves three meals a day. The adult will work in one of the government programs gaining skills. We must regain our pride in being self sufficient.

One of my favorite movies is “Cinderella Man” with Russell Crowe. He plays a fighter named James Braddock who was a mediocre fighter in the depression. Times got so bad that he was embarrassed to stand in line to get the government dole. He went on to win a few big fights and eventually won the heavyweight championship of the world. After he won his first big fight, he stood in line at the same place he got his government handout and repaid our federal government for every cent he got when he was in need.

What a great story. It is time that we all stand in line and give back to our government what it has given us.



— Thomas Jeffers

Terre Haute

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